Residents of fire-ravaged Maui, Hawaii, have made it plain that they do not want Vice President Joe Biden in their midst as they attempt to gather up the pieces after last week’s devastating blazes.
CNN reported on Wednesday that at least 110 people perished in the conflagration and many more are missing, specifically in Lahaina.
Biden was late to remark on the tragedy, and when a reporter asked him about the rising mortality toll over the weekend, he replied, “No comment.”
The White House announced on Wednesday that he will visit the afflicted areas after his response generated negative headlines.
Biden and Jill Biden will visit the island next week, according to Biden’s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
“The President and First Lady will travel to Maui on Monday, August 21 to meet with first responders, survivors, as well as federal, state, and local officials, in the wake of deadly wildfires on the island,” Jean-Pierre said.
Numerous Maui residents told the New York Post that they would prefer Biden not disturb them.
“I don’t want him here,” Lahaina resident Jay Awan said. “He’s just coming to Maui to look good in front of the cameras.”
Awan stated that his house had been reduced to embers and that he doubted it would ever be reconstructed in its entirety.
“It’s like a f***ing warzone here,” the 45-year-old cook and tiki carver told the Post. “Maui’s never going to be the same. Lahaina’s never going to be the same.”
Awan anticipated that afflicted properties would be acquired from indigent individuals by large corporations.
“They’re going to put resorts up all along here — Lahaina is going to lose its character as an old whaling village,” he said. “We can’t get the historical sites back.”
Peter Friedgen, a 66-year-old Maui resident, told the Post that residents “don’t care if the president comes” because the area will be flooded with tourists.
“It’s a waiting game now for someone to show up — the government, insurers,” Friedgen said. “I’ve just been down the beach, waiting for people to get into town.”
In the meantime, a Maui resident has expressed her desire for Biden’s visit, but only in the hope that it will inspire some empathy.
“We haven’t had federal support,” Kristi Bowman said. “We’ve had local support, not federal.”
The 60-year-old accountant reportedly “scoffed” at the president’s proposal to give individuals who have lost everything a $700 one-time payment.